Technip Energies, Alterra Energy partner on recycled feedstock production

MRC) -- Technip Energies and Alterra Energy have now entered into a global joint development and collaboration agreement to integrate Technip Energies’ pyrolysis oil purification technology with Alterra’s commercially available liquefaction process technology, said Sustainableplastics.

By integrating both their proprietary processes, the two companies aim to accelerate the adoption of recycled feedstock, thus improving circular economy solutions for the global petrochemical industry. The combination of advanced recycling and purification technologies will enable more efficient processing and reuse of hard-to-recycle plastic.

Ohio-based Alterra provides an innovative, patented, thermochemical liquefaction technology, converting hard-to-recycle plastic into a pyrolysis based oil called PyOil and diverting tonnes of plastic from landfills.

France-headquartered Technip Energies has extensive knowledge of ethylene furnace and steam cracker design, preparation and purification of heavy feedstocks for refining and petrochemical facilities, on the basis of which the company has developed its Pure.rOil purification technology, which enables the safe, reliable and optimised integration with individual crackers.

Combining the two technologies yields a drop-in ready PyOil feedstock derived from recycled waste plastics, helping to create, as Bhaskar Patel, SVP Sustainable Fuels, Chemicals and Circularity at Technip Energies said ‘new pathways toward solving the plastic waste problem’.

“Our partnership with Technip Energies allows us to offer a more holistic value proposition to our customers by ensuring that our recycled product can be utilised as a direct feed in the majority of existing chemical and petrochemical assets for the production of new plastics, thus closing the plastic recycling loop,” said Frederic Schmuck, CEO of Alterra Energy. “To meet the growing demand for recycled content, Alterra will continue to forge partnerships and collaborations with innovative companies like Technip Energies to create a recycling ecosystem that’s as efficient and effective as possible."

As per MRC, TechnipFMC has been awarded a large Engineering, Procurement, Construction and Installation (EPCI) contract by Petrobras. The contract covers flexible and rigid pipe, umbilicals, pipeline end terminals, rigid jumpers, umbilical termination assemblies and a mooring system.

As per MRC, TechnipFMC announced the launch of the placement of 16 million Technip Energies shares, representing ca. 9% of Technip Energies’ issued and outstanding share capital, through a private placement by way of an accelerated bookbuild offering. Upon completion of the Placement, TechnipFMC would retain a direct stake of ca. 22% of Technip Energies’ issued and outstanding share capital.

We remind, SIBUR, the largest petrochemical complex in Russia and Eastern Europe, and Technip Energies, an international engineering company, have entered into an agreement on cooperation in the field of technology for the production of Hexen-1 comonomer used in the production of linear polyethylene (LDPE) and low-pressure polyethylene (HDPE). The HEXSIB technology is a proprietary development of NIOST specialists, one of the main research centers of SIBUR.
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Borealis and Axens have recently signed a license agreement for the Rewind Mix process in order to purify and upgrade 50 KTA of pyrolysis oils produced from plastics wastes at the petrochemical plant of Borealis in Stenungsund, Sweden, said Hydrocarbonprocessing.

The unit is planned to be in commercial operation in 2025, subject to FID, and will produce a virgin-like recycled feedstock to be further processed in the existing steam cracker unit for the production of recycled polymers, which could be used for food-grade packaging and other high-value applications.

Axens will supply the process design package of the Rewind Mix unit and the corresponding proprietary equipment, catalysts and adsorbents. Developed by IFP Energies nouvelles, Repsol and Axens, and based upon a strong industrial background, Rewind Mix provides a complete solution to turn plastic pyrolysis oils into perfect feedstock for steam cracking to make recycled plastics suitable for any application. Axens will also support Borealis with technical on-site and digital assistance, securing a long-term optimal performance of the unit.

This unit is a key element of the planned plastic advanced recycling project of Borealis in Stenungsund. The project will as well include a pyrolysis unit feeding the Rewind Mix process, and storage and logistic solutions. The plastic waste will be provided from selected partners. The project has got support from the Swedish Energy Agency for the study phases.

"We are proud to have been selected by Borealis for this ground-breaking project. Axens is strongly committed to supporting the plastic recycling industry in reaching its ambitious targets at the 2025-2030 horizon, developing and offering robust, flexible, low-carbon footprint technologies which complement mechanical recycling and create a truly circular plastic economy,” said Stephane Fedou, Axens Plastics Circular Economy Director.

”Borealis has set ambitious targets to create a circular economy for plastic, as a part of our sustainability journey,” said Anders Froberg, Borealis Director of Manufacturing Excellence and Transformation. “Together with Axens, we will be able to provide our customers with sustainable products in order to meet market demands and improve recycle rates of plastic."

We remind, Borealis (Vienna), a leading producer of polyolefins, has delayed the start-up of a new, world-scale propane dehydrogenation (PDH) plant at its existing production site at Kallo, Belgium, which is the company's biggest investment in Europe, until Q3 2023, citing Covid-19. The plant in Kallo in the port of Antwerp was previously targeted to begin operations by the end of next year.

Borealis is owned by OMV AG and Mubadala Investment Co., the Abu Dhabi state investment company. Borealis is a leading provider of innovative solutions in the fields of polyolefins, base chemicals and fertilizers. With headquarters in Vienna, Austria, Borealis currently employs around 6,500 and operates in over 120 countries.
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Zhongjing Petrochemical in an official ceremony on 18 April 2022 announced the startup of its new polypropylene (PP) plant in Fujian province this June as construction is near completion, according to CommoPlast.

The new plant has an annual output of 1.2 million tons per annum using LyondellBasell’s 5th Generation Spheripol technology. The unit is likely to produce commodity grades including homo-PP yarn and injection at the initial stage before focusing on copolymer and specialty grades.

The company initially planned to bring the new plant online between late 2022 to early 2023.

At the moment, Zhongjing operates two existing PP lines with a nameplate capacity of 1 million tons/year and a 750,000 tons/year propane dehydrogenation (PDH) unit based in Fujian, China.

As MRC wrote previously, in January, 2022, LyondellBasell announced that PT Polytama Propindo will use the LyondellBasell Spheripol technology for expanding their existing facility. The process technology will be used for an additional 300 KTA PP plant to be built in Balongan, West Java, Indonesia, that is expected to be completed in 2024.

According to MRC's ScanPlast report, PP shipments to the Russian market totalled 1,494.280 tonnes, up by 21% year on year. Deliveries of homopolymer PP and PP block copolymers increased, whreas.shipments of PP random copolymers decreased significantly.
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MRC) -- Mexico's cash-strapped state oil firm Petroleos Mexicanos (Pemex) is under pressure to resume financial debt repayments despite promises from President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador that his government would pay them until 2024, said Hydrocarbonprocessing.

Pemex is due to pay some 1 B euros to redeem a 2015 bond. "Pemex will make payment of its maturities this month with its own resources, since the finance ministry did not make capital contributions to the company in April (for that)," said one of the sources, who asked to remain anonymous.

Neither the finance ministry nor Pemex responded to requests for comment. Pemex, one of the world's most-indebted oil companies, has struggled with years of declining crude production and in 2020 lost its coveted investment-grade debt rating.

The source said between May and December Pemex faces outstanding principal and interest payments, mainly related to bonds, worth some USD3.8 B. "The finance ministry notified Pemex about three weeks ago the company had to pay the eurobond, arguing it has more funds due to the increase in ... oil prices," the source added.

Pemex has said it must shoulder peso-denominated financial debt maturities in 2022 worth some USD8.4 B, and another USD15.2 B of debt commitments in other currencies. The ministry has in recent weeks also pressed Pemex to resume amortizations linked mainly to debt issuances, which this year amount to some USD7.5 B, another USD7.4 B in 2023 and USD8.8 B in 2024, the source said.

In 2021, debt amortizations totaled about USD6.4 billion. The second source told Reuters "the additional income from Pemex will be significant, and that allows the company to receive less (government) support", without giving details on how much extra income was expected due to the increase in crude oil prices following Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

Pemex's financial debt closed 2021 at USD109.0 B. Net losses were USD10.9 B last year. Pemex has begun drawing up a refinancing plan for some USD3.5 B in financial debt, anticipating the funds will not come from the government for now, the first source said.

Mexico in January swapped short-term Pemex bonds for a new 10-year bond as part of a scheme to lower debt and reduce medium-term financial pressure on the firm. Mexico's government in 2021 made capital contributions to Pemex of 202.569 B pesos for debt repayments and granted the firm 73.280 B pesos in tax incentives. Pemex officials recently said the government will provide it with capital this year in accordance with its maturity profile.

Last month, Lopez Obrador said Mexico will reduce refining output at Pemex while it modernizes its refineries, as the government capitalizes on high oil prices. Mexico has said it will use extra revenue collected from oil prices to subsidize domestic gasoline and diesel prices, helping to contain inflation.

As MRC informed before, in March 2022, officials told Reuters that Mexico's oil exports would remain close to 1 MMbpd for much of the year, despite plans announced by Pemex to slash them to less than half that so it could refine more crude.

We remind that n late January, 2022, Pemex signed a long-term crude supply contract with Royal Dutch Shell Plc as part of its acquisition of the Deer Park refinery in Texas. Pemex and Shell in May, 2021, announced the transaction, which is worth almost USD600 MM and will make the Mexican firm the sole owner of the refinery near Houston. The facility has capacity to process 340,000 bpd. Shell will supply about 200,000 bpd of foreign and US crude to the plant for at least 15 years.

Ethylene and propylene are the main feedstocks for the production of polyethylene (PE) and polypropylene (PP), respectively.

According to MRC's ScanPlast report, Russia's estimated PE consumption totalled 2,487,450 tonnes in 2021, up by 13% year on year. Shipments of all grades of ethylene polymers increased. At the same time, PP shipments to the Russian market totalled 1,494.280 tonnes, up by 21% year on year. Deliveries of homopolymer PP and PP block copolymers increased, whreas shipments of PP random copolymers decreased significantly.
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Solvay, a leading global supplier of specialty polymers, has introduced a new medical grade of Ixef PARA for single-use surgical instruments and biopharma processing components with rotating parts, as per the company's press release.

Ixef GS-5022 brings increased lubrication to the well-known combination of mechanical properties and ultra-smooth finish associated with Ixef GS-1022, already widely used in healthcare applications.

“Ixef GS-5022 has been developed to meet customer needs for single-use instruments with moving parts that require smooth, minimum force movement and reduced noise,” said Guruprasad Sivakumar, Head of Healthcare Marketing at Solvay. “The increased level of lubrication makes Ixef GS-5022 the ideal solution wherever you expect to have high friction in surgical instruments such as stent crimpers or components of single-use instruments functioning at high rotational speeds.”

Ixef= GS-5022 is an ideal solution to replace metal due to its unique combination of tensile and flexural strength with an aesthetic, ultra-smooth finish. It is also compatible with hospital disinfectants and resistant to high energy gamma radiation without significant changes to its original appearance or physical properties. Therefore, parts made from Ixef GS-5022 can be gamma sterilized in bulk leading to reduced costs, enabling the production of affordable disposable surgical instruments or components for biopharma processing.

As MRC reported before, earlier this month, Solvay partnered with Mitsubishi Chemical Advanced Materials to recycle end-of-life medical components. New collaboration will help customers reach sustainability goals for high-performance Udel PSU polymers in demanding applications.

We remind that Belgian chemicals group Solvay has suspended operations and new investments in Russia after the invasion of Ukraine. The suspension is temporary and will be reviewed in due course, a spokesperson said in early March, 2022, adding that the company had put a task force in place to manage the impact of the measures.

We also remind that in August, 2020, through the acquisition of the Solvay polyamide (PA) business, BASF enhanced its R&D capabilities in Asia Pacific with new technologies, technical expertise, and upgraded material and part testing services. BASF is planning to integrate the R&D centers from Solvay into its R&D existing facilities in Shanghai, China, and Seoul, Korea. The enhanced capabilities will boost BASF’s position as a solution provider to develop advanced material solutions for key industries.

Solvay is a science company whose technologies bring benefits to many aspects of daily life. With more than 24,100 employees in 64 countries, Solvay bonds people, ideas and elements to reinvent progress. The Group seeks to create sustainable shared value for all, notably through its Solvay One Planet plan crafted around three pillars: protecting the climate, preserving resources and fostering better life. The Group’s innovative solutions contribute to safer, cleaner, and more sustainable products found in homes, food and consumer goods, planes, cars, batteries, smart devices, health care applications, water and air purification systems. Founded in 1863, Solvay today ranks among the world’s top three companies for the vast majority of its activities.
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